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. 2024 Oct 4:152:e111.
doi: 10.1017/S0950268824001122.

Hospitalizations and emergency attendance averted by influenza vaccination in Victoria, Australia, 2017 - 2019

Catherine G A Pendrey  1   2   3 , Arseniy Khvorov  2   4 , Son Nghiem  5 , Md R Rahaman  1 , Janet Strachan  3 , Sheena G Sullivan  2   4   6
Affiliations

Hospitalizations and emergency attendance averted by influenza vaccination in Victoria, Australia, 2017 - 2019

Catherine G A Pendrey et al. Epidemiol Infect. .

Abstract

Seasonal influenza epidemics result in high levels of healthcare utilization. Vaccination is an effective strategy to reduce the influenza-related burden of disease. However, reporting vaccine effectiveness does not convey the population impacts of influenza vaccination. We aimed to calculate the burden of influenza-related hospitalizations and emergency department (ED) attendance averted by influenza vaccination in Victoria, Australia, from 2017 to 2019, and associated economic savings. We applied a compartmental model to hospitalizations and ED attendances with influenza-specific, and pneumonia and influenza (P&I) with the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, Australian Modification (ICD-10-AM) diagnostic codes of J09-J11 and J09-J18, respectively. We estimated an annual average of 7657 (120 per 100000 population) hospitalizations and 20560 (322 per 100000 population) ED attendances over the study period, associated with A$85 million hospital expenditure. We estimated that influenza vaccination averted an annual average of 1182 [range: 556 - 2277] hospitalizations and 3286 [range: 1554 - 6257] ED attendances and reduced the demand for healthcare services at the influenza season peak. This equated to approximately A13 [range: A6 - A25] million of savings over the study period. Calculating the burden averted is feasible in Australia and auseful approach to demonstrate the health and economic benefits of influenza vaccination.

Keywords: epidemiology; influenza; prevention; vaccination (immunization); vaccine policy development.

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Conflict of interest statement

C.G.A.P., A.K., S.N., M.R.R., and J.S. – nothing to declare. S.G.S. has received honoraria from CSL Seqirus, Moderna, Pfizer, and Evo Health. The WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza has a collaborative research and development agreement (CRADA) with CSL Seqirus for isolation of candidate vaccine viruses in cells and an agreement with IFPMA for isolation of candidate vaccine viruses in eggs.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Observed influenza-related hospitalizations and ED attendances vs modelled events in the absence of influenza vaccination, Victoria, 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2019. Influenza-specific hospitalizations defined as events with a J09-J11 ICD-10-AM code in any diagnostic field. P&I ED attendances defined as events with a J09-J18 ICD-10-AM code in any diagnostic field. Points indicate the central estimate, linked by lines to show the epidemic curve of influenza-related events. Shaded regions indicate the level of uncertainty around each central estimate (range). Data sources: VAED (hospitalizations) and VEMD (ED attendances).
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